Automatic packing and wrapping apparatus

ABSTRACT

An automatic packing and wrapping apparatus for wrapping articles such as blocks of meat, comprising an assembly for forming a strip of synthetic resin film into a tubular shape, an assembly for feeding the article into the tubular film through nozzles, and an assembly for tying the ends of the film so as to seal the article in the film. The nozzles include a crushing mechanism comprising, for example, a rotary cutter and a fixed cutter each secured to the end of a respective nozzle. The article is crushed by the crushing mechanism at predetermined intervals to form alternate bulky and slender portions for every given length of the article in the film. The article portions within the film are pinched and squeezed by a pair of pinch rollers, and then the surrounding film is tied with metal clips or the like.

United States Patent Inoue et a1. [45] Nov. 28, 1972 AUTOMATIC PACKINGAND FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS WRAPPING APPARATUS 621,079 5/1961Canada ..53/122 [72] Inventors: Kiyoshi Inoue; Tetsuo lshikawa;

shingo ()kada, all f lwaki, J a Primary Examiner-Robert C. RiordonAssistant Examiner-Eugene F. Desmond [731 Asslgmfi Kmha K888i! KogyoKahushlkl Att0meySughrue, Rothwell, Mion, Zinn & Macpeak Kaisha,Tokyo-to, Japan [22] Filed: Feb. 12, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 114,850

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 12, 1970 Japan ..45/11460[52] US. Cl. ..53/180, 53/138 R [51] Int. Cl ..B65b 9/12, B65b 51/04[58] Field of Search ..53/28, 180, 122, 138 R;

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,685,769 8/1959 Conti..53/122 2,691,257 10/1954 Vogt ..53/180 X ABSTRACT An automatic packingand wrapping apparatus for wrapping articles such as blocks of meat,comprising an assembly for forming a strip of synthetic resin film intoa tubular shape, an assembly for feeding the article into the tubularfilm through nozzles, and an assembly for tying the ends of the film soas to seal the article in the film. The nozzles include a crushingmechanism comprising, for example, a rotary cutter and a fixed cuttereach secured to the end of a respective nozzle. The article is crushedby the crushing mechanism at predetermined intervals to form alternatebulky and slender portions for every given length of the article in thefilm. The article portions within the film are pinched and squeezed by apair of pinch rollers, and then the surrounding film is tied with metalclips or the like.

5 Claim, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEmv-ze sum 1 or? 3703796 INVENTORKIYOSHI INOUE TETSUO ISHIKAWA SHINGQ OKADA ATTORNEYS PATiNTinuuvze 1912saw 2 OF 2 3 FIG 5 mum; OFF- PINCH ROLLERS FIG. 7

AUTOMATIC PACKING AND WRAPPING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to an automatic packing and wrapping apparatuswhich effects the steps of forming a strip of synthetic resin film intoa tubular form, inserting a nozzle into the tubular film, introducingthrough the nozzle an article'to be packed, removing the article in thecylindrical film at predetermined intervals, and tying those portions ofthe film with which the article has been removed, with metal clipsthereby to seal the article in the film.

When an article containing large lumpy fragments such as blocks ofmeat'is packed and wrapped by a conventional automatic packing andwrapping machine of this type, fragments of meat or fibrous tissues ofmeat remain at those portions of the cylindrical film from which thecontents have been removed by outside means such as pinch rollers beforethe tying operation, and cause the contents to bite the film at the timeof tying and thus break the film. There is also the disadvantage thatthe wrapped article will be putrefied because of the meat fragmentsremaining in those portions of the tubular film which have been grippedwith pinch rollers. In an attempt to overcome such disadvantages, wehave developed an automatic packing and wrapping machine wherein acutter to be driven from outside is provided at the end of a nozzlewhich feeds an article to be wrapped into a tubular film, so as to cutoff blocks of the article at the end of the nozzle. At the same time,the article is intermittently fed into the tubular film. In thismachine, it is necessary to control the timing of the cutting andsqueezing, and to squeeze dexterously the interface between the air andthe upper surface of meat discharged intermittently from the nozzle andcut off. If a part even slightly above the interface is squeezed orgripped, air remains in the resulting package, and if a part evenslightly below the interface is squeezed, the meat bites the film. Thecontrol of the timing, however, becomes increasingly difficult with anincrease in the folded width of tubular film and the size of meatblocks, which in turn tends to lead to inadequate packages wherein thefilm is cut by the meat or air is trapped therein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to removethe aforementioned defects of our previously developed apparatus byproviding an automatic packing and wrapping apparatus wherein a crushingmechanism is provided in a nozzle for feeding an article to be packed,so as to crush blocks of the article, for example blocks of ham,intermittently and to form slender portions at predetermined intervalsof the article in a tubular film as a result of complete crushing. Theseportions then are squeezed with pinch rollers completely and then tiedand sealed with metal fasteners or the like.

According to the apparatus of the present invention, a rotary blade isexternally driven and is rotated continuously for a first period oftime, and subsequently for a second predetermined period of time, thearticle then being discharged from the nozzle remaining stationary whilethe discharge port is being opened. By this operation, the articlecontained in the cylindrical film is crushed at predetermined intervalsto form sausagelike slender portions which can be easily gripped andsqueezed with pinch rollers. This ensures precise tying without causingentrapped air or biting of the film. In our previous apparatus, acutting blade had to be provided at the end of the nozzle in order toeffect precise timing control. However, in the apparatus of the presentapplication, the crushing mechanism need not be provided at the end ofthe nozzle, but may be pro vided at the other end on the side of articlefeeding or at a point between the two ends of the nozzle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The apparatus of the invention will bemore specifically described below with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which: I

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the automatic packing and wrappingapparatus of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the drive portion of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the nozzle in an open condition;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the nozzle shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of another embodiment of a nozzleusable in the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan of the nozzle shown in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic view illustrating the relation of the timingbetween the pinch rollers and the discharge port during the operation ofthe apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, aninside nozzle 1 is rotatably fitted inan outside nozzle 2. The insidenozzle 1, to which a gear 3 is secured, is intermittently rotated apredetermined number of times for a predetermined period of time throughgears 27, 26, 25 and 24. The gear 27 meshes with a rack 28, and forevery packing, an air piston 29 causes the rack 28 to make a reciprocalmovement over a predetermined distance alternately in the direction ofarrows shown in FIG. 2.

The outside nozzle 2 is fixed to a stand (not shown) by a flange 4, andits bottom portion is partially closed, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, by asemi-circular bottom plate 16 whose edge constitutes a cutter 17.

Similarly, the bottom portion of the inside nozzle 1 is partially closedby a semi-circular bottom plate 19 whose edge constitutes a cutter 20. Adischarge port 22 is constructed such that it is always open at the timewhen the inside nozzle 1 remains stationary before and after itsrotating motion. A strip of packaging synthetic resin film 5 is fedthrough a film guide roller 6, and guided in a cylindrical form by meansof a forming plate 7. The overlapping part of the film is welded, forexample, by the action of a high frequency negative electrode 8 and ahigh frequency positive electrode 9, and is thus formed into a tubularfilm 10. The film 10 is passed through a sizing ring 11, and on one orboth sides of the outside nozzle 2, a part of the tubular film 10 isheld, according to the state of the article contained in the film, by apair (or two pairs) of feed rolls 12, 12' which rotate inthe directionof arrows and deliver the film downwardly. The film containing thearticle is then passed through a pair of squeeze or pinch 3 rollers 23,23', and the slender end portions 30 of the film between which thearticle contained has been squeezed are tied with metal fasteners 14 bya tying machine 13. The final package obtained is shown at 15, and theblocks of the articleor articles contained in it, at 31.

As previously stated, the-stripof film 5 passes the guide roller 6, andis formed into a tubular shape by the forming plate 7. The overlappingportion of the film is welded while passing between the positive andnegative electrodes 9 and 8, and is pulled downwards by the feed rollers12, 12-. The article to be packed is fed through the inside nozzle 1,and fed into the tubular film. By the action of the cutter 20 providedat the end of the inside nozzle 1 which rotates at predeterminedintervals for predetermined time periods according to the length of thepackage desired, and of the fixed cutter 17 secured to the end of theoutside nozzle 2, the article is discharged from the nozzles in a statehaving alternate bulky and slender portions for every given length.

As shown in FIG. 3, the crushing mechanism comprises a combination ofthe rotary cutter 20 and the fixed cutter 17 provided at the endportions of the nozzles l and 2, respectively. The structure andoperation of the crushing mechanism, however, are not limited to theembodiment shown in FIG. 3, and any suitable crushing mechanism could beutilized. Another embodiment of the crushing mechanism is shown in FIG.5 in which a rotary cutter 21 and a fixed cutter 18 are of a narrow,elongated configuration and have blades on both sides. Furthermore, eachcutter may have two or more blades superimposed one on top of the other,or have a comb-like blade in the vertical direction. Other structuresare also possible. When the article to be packed contains a toughligament such as animal flesh, the crushing mechanism should desirablyhave two or more blades to cause them to work like scissors so as to cutoff the tough fibrous tissues. n the other hand, when the article isrelatively easy to cut (e.g. artificial meat), the crushing mechanismmay have only one blade, or may be of any other type not containingblades, such as the impact or milling type. The rotary part of thecrushing mechanism can be driven by utilizing the inside nozzle and/orthe outside nozzle, but if desired, it may be driven by a shaft providedseparately from the nozzles.

One example of operation will be described with reference to FIG. 7 inwhich:

tf shows the time during which the inside nozzle rotates and crushes thearticle to be packed,

to shows the time during which the inside nozzle remains stationary withits end opened;

ts shows the time during which the pinch rollers grip and squeeze thearticle contained in the film, and

th shows the time during which the pinch rollers are apart from eachother. Hence, T is the time of one cycle needed for one packingoperation.

At point A, the discharge port is open, and the inside nozzle 1 isstationary, while the pinch or squeeze rollers are apart from eachother. Thus, blocks of meat come meat block at oint B. At oint C, thenoz le is r'otatin' and crushing he meat, arid the pinch roflers begintc i squeeze that portion of the crushed meat which has been dischargedto the underside of the stuffer; Downwards, packing and cutting begin.At point D, the pinch rollers have completed the squeezing, and thedischarge port is open. The inside nozzle is stationary. Blocks of meatcontinue to come out from the discharge port, but until the pinchrollers depart from each other, the upper surface of the meat blocks isrising. When the pinch rollers depart from each other past the point D,the upper surface of the meat blocks continues to come down.

In the manner mentioned above, the article to be packed is poured into atubular film in a state of being crushed at predetermined intervals.Squeezing the crushed portions can therefore be performed very easilyand precisely, and this obviates such disadvantages as the airremainder, biting or film break. The article can be completely sealedinto the package to enable it to be stored for long periods of time.

We claim:

l. In an automatic packing and wrapping apparatus, comprisingmeans forforming a strip of synthetic resin film into a tubular shape, means forfeeding an article to be wrapped into said tubular film through nozzlemeans, and means for tying the film so as to seal the article in thefilm; the improvement comprising:

a crushing mechanism in said nozzle means for crushing the article atpredetermined intervals to form alternate bulky and slender portions forevery given length of the article in the film, said nozzle meanscomprising a first nozzle rotatably connected to a second nozzle andsaid crushing mechanism comprising a first cutter secured to said firstnozzle and a second cutter secured to said second nozzle,

means for pinching and squeezing the slender portions in the film, and

means for closing the ends of the film to seal the arti-' cle portionstherein.

2. An automatic packing and wrapping apparatus according to claim 1wherein said first nozzle is rotatably mounted within said secondnozzle.

3. An automatic packing and wrapping apparatus according to claim 1wherein each of said first and second cutters includes two or moreblades.

4. An automatic packing and wrapping apparatus according to claim 1wherein said crushing mechanism comprises an elongated strip-like rotarycutter and an elongated strip-like fixed cutter each having blades onboth sides thereof.

5. An automatic packing and wrapping apparatus according to claim 2,wherein said crushing mechanism comprises an elongated strip-like rotarycutter and elongated strip-like fixed cutter, each having blades on bothsides thereof.

t k t t

1. In an automatic packing and wrapping apparatus, comprising means forforming a strip of synthetic resin film into a tubular shape, means forfeeding an article to be wrapped into said tubular film through nozzlemeans, and means for tying the film so as to seal the article in thefilm; the improvement comprising: a crushing mechanism in said nozzlemeans for crushing the article at predetermined intervals to formalternate bulky and slender portions for every given length of thearticle in the film, said nozzle means comprising a first nozzlerotatably connected to a second nozzle and said crushing mechanismcomprising a first cutter secured to said first nozzle and a secondcutter secured to said second nozzle, means for pinching and squeezingthe slender portions in the film, and means for closing the ends of thefilm to seal the article portions therein.
 2. An automatic packing andwrapping apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said first nozzle isrotatably mounted within said second nozzle.
 3. An automatic packing andwrapping apparatus according to claim 1 wherein each of said first andsecond cutters includes two or more blades.
 4. An automatic packing andwrapping apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said crushing mechanismcomprises an elongated strip-like rotary cutter and an elongatedstrip-like fixed cutter each having blades on both sides thereof.
 5. Anautomatic packing and wrapping apparatus according to claim 2, whereinsaid crushing mechanism comprises an elongated strip-like rotary cutterand elongated strip-like fixed cutter, each having blades on both sidesthereof.